Guides · Cedar Key, Florida
Where to Stay in Cedar Key: Hotels, Inns and Rentals
The town of Cedar Key is smaller than its history—819 housing units, 756 people, and a median age that suggests most of them have already lived somewhere else. The sawmills that once cut half a million board feet a week are gone, scattered by the 1896 hurricane and the fires that followed. What remains is a place to sleep, briefly, between the water and the memory of wood.
The Old Guard on Second Street
Island Hotel & Restaurant sits at 373 2nd St, the most storied address in town. It rates 4.6 from 579 reviews, and it is the closest thing Cedar Key has to a formal lodging. The building has absorbed more than a century of weather and rumor. You will not find a better vantage point for understanding why people stayed. Two blocks north, Cedar Cove Hotel at 192 2nd St and Park Place in Cedar Key at 211 2nd St offer simpler versions of the same proposition: close to the water, close to the old commercial district, no pretension. Park Place rates 4.5 from 277 reviews; Cedar Cove, 4.4 from 332.
Cedar Inn Motel at 410 2nd St is the workhorse of the strip. A 4.0 rating from 312 reviews tells you it is not fancy. It is honest. If you are here for the fishing or the festival, this is where you park and sleep.
The Dock Street Compromise
Cedar Key Harbour Master Suites at 390 Dock St is the highest-rated hotel in the core, 4.7 from 401 reviews. It faces the harbor directly. You can watch the tide move without leaving your room. Dockside Motel at 491 Dock St rates 3.8 from 138 reviews—the lowest number on this list, and worth knowing for that reason. It is functional. Not everyone needs a view.
The Inns on Third Street
Two properties on 3rd St define the bed-and-breakfast end of town. Faraway Inn at 847 3rd St rates 4.8 from 271 reviews. Cedar Key Bed & Breakfast at 810 3rd St matches it exactly: 4.8 from 258 reviews. These are houses turned to hospitality, the kind of places where the porch matters more than the lobby. The Eagle Pencil Company once cut cedar slats at 3rd and G Streets, a few blocks away. You can stand outside and think about that.
The Cottages and Cabins
Pirates Cove Coastal Cottages at 12633 FL-24 rates 4.9 from 250 reviews. Firefly Resort Cottages at 12685 FL-24 rates a perfect 5.0 from 210 reviews. Both sit on the highway heading into town, which means you will need a car to get to dinner. That is not a flaw. It is a choice. Little House, Cute, Cozy Artist Cottage carries the same perfect 5.0, from 628 reviews—the most reviews of any property listed here. The name is the description. The rating is the verdict.
The Rentals
For longer stays, the condo and rental market dominates. Seahorse Landing Condominiums at 4050 G St rates 4.5 from 151 reviews. Island Place Condo Rentals at 550 1st St matches that rating from 137 reviews. McCormick Vacation Rentals at 4051 D St rates 4.8 from 77 reviews—fewer data points, higher confidence.
The census numbers explain why these exist. Of 819 housing units, 450 are vacant. Two hundred sixty-nine are held for seasonal or recreational use. The town is not built for year-round residents; it is built for people who come and go. The median gross rent is $918. The median home value is $331,100. You can do the math yourself.
What the Numbers Do Not Say
Cedar Key supplied the wood the world wrote with. The Eberhard Faber mill opened in 1865. By 1886, seventeen sawmills were cutting nearly half a million board feet a week. The 1896 hurricane ended most of it. Atsena Otie Key—the island Augustus Steele bought in 1843 for $227—had more than thirty-five houses survive the surge. The mill sites did not.
You are not coming here for the lodging. You are coming here because the town is smaller than its history, and the history is still visible if you know where to look. The Seafood Festival in October is the rare chance to reach Seahorse Key, an island three miles out that is otherwise closed. Stay anywhere on this list. The rooms are not the point.
The point is that you can sleep where the cedar once stood.
Every business named above is one we hold a listing for, and every date traces to a source on our sources page. We do not describe menus, interiors or service we have not verified. Details change — confirm before you travel.